OTTAWA – The Harper government is welcoming a new report by federal politicians, spearheaded by the New Democrats, that recommends energy targets and an improved ratings system to slash energy consumption in buildings and save millions of dollars in federal spending.

The report, tabled in Parliament by a House of Commons committee, made 15 recommendations, concluding that clear goals, better planning and co-ordination would be an efficient way to reduce the federal deficit, while producing some environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gases and pollution caused by energy consumption in more than 30,000 federally-owned buildings.

“In the committee’s view, a federal focus on clear targets, policies and processes, a strategic planning approach, better co-ordination among departments, improved education and training, and ongoing monitoring of federal buildings are needed if federal goals in relation to energy-efficient buildings are to be realized,” said the report, approved by Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals. “In short, a variety of avenues must be explored as decisions are made about ‘powering’ federal buildings in order to ensure energy efficiency.”

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the government would formally respond to the recommendations within a few months, but he appeared to agree with the report in principle.

“We believe that the energy performance of the entire buildings sector in Canada can be improved, including federal buildings,” said Oliver in a statement that also highlighted improvements in buildings and homes over the past two decades, with a 24 per cent reduction in energy intensity in buildings since 1990.

The report said that an existing federal program has covered 80 retrofit projects in buildings, saving up to $43 million per year in energy operating costs, according to Carol Buckley, director general of Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency.

The report also quoted U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a federal American government program had helped generate $3.1 billion in efficiency investments in its facilities through performance-based contracts with savings of $8.5 billion over the life of the energy-saving measures.

Linda Duncan, an NDP MP from Edmonton, said she was delighted that Conservative MPs agreed to her proposal to study the issue and produce the report. She said the conclusions demonstrate that federal departments need to improve existing efforts to promote energy efficiency, which she explained could be considered as an alternative source of energy.

“The government has been unilateral in its objective in how they’re going to save public dollars and that is (to say) ‘we’re going to slash public service jobs,’ ” said Duncan, a veteran environmental lawyer. “There are lots of other ways that they could do it in an innovative way without reducing services to Canadians, and this is one where they could have substantial savings and protect the environment and create well-paying jobs, right across the country.”

Conservative MP Peter Braid, vice-chairman of the committee, said his colleagues on the government disagreed with an NDP proposal recommending that new targets should be legally-binding. But he also recognized the opposition party’s efforts to promote energy efficiency, describing the resulting report as a “very good multipartisan effort.”

“We recognized the benefits of this particular study and the opportunities for further improvements,” said Braid, the MP for Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. “You can’t track on what you’re not reporting and setting goals helps to improve performance.”